


Daffodils and Dahlias

by someoneplsloverobbierotten



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Family Bonding, First Kiss, Flowers, Holding Hands, M/M, Robbie bonds with The Kiddos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 01:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10426377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someoneplsloverobbierotten/pseuds/someoneplsloverobbierotten
Summary: After the spring flowers come through in the children's garden, Sportacus is invited to make flower bouquets with them.Who is he going to make one for, though?





	

**Author's Note:**

> i just really wanted to make the boys give each other flowers okay. flowers that would make then cry with sweetness.
> 
> (sorry for any messed up tenses! pls enjoy)
> 
> \--------------
> 
> also i had so much fun designing each characters bouquet u don't even know omg

Sportacus is slicing himself a banana when the familiar mail tube flies up through the hole in the ships floor. Delighted, he snatches the tube out of the air and slides out the letter with a happy exclamation of “I’ve got mail!”

If the ship had eyes, Sportacus thinks it would probably roll them because he says the same thing every time he gets a letter, but he just can’t help it; he really does love getting mail.

If the pink paper didn’t give away the sender of this particular letter, the glittery flower sticker stuck to the inner corner of it would, and the hero reads through what Stephanie’s written with a smile.

_‘Dear Sportacus, the Spring flowers in our garden have grown in!! We're going to make some bouquets with them and were wondering if you wanted to make one too? We're down in the garden if you do!_

_Love Stephanie’_

Sportacus’s smile widens to a grin and he immediately starts preparations to leave the ship and go join the children.

In the summer of last year, the children had expressed interest in starting a flower garden. They’d very much enjoyed growing sportscandy and maintaining a garden and had wanted to do more. They’d still wanted to keep on growing sportscandy, but the children had informed him that gardens are for other plants too; namely flowers, so in October they all sat down and agreed to split the garden in half; one half for growing fruits and vegetables, and one half for growing flowers.

While Sportacus had certainly been told about the idea and had discussed it with the children he hadn’t actually been that involved with it. He provided a few suggestions or problems solving tips if they asked, but otherwise he was left out of it and he’s quite happy with that. He _loves_ spending time with the kids and helping them out, but it's good that they have something to do together on their own, something that they love and are taking initiative with, together.

It would seem that their hard work has paid off, as it’s now Spring and Stephanie seems to be very excited about what they’ve grown. She’s right to be – he’s visited the garden plenty of times for various reasons and every time he always notes how good it’s looking; both flowers and sportscandy progressing well. The flowers in particular always make his day a little bit brighter - they’ve really been growing beautifully.

He arrives at the garden to find a couple of long tables set up in the centre of it. The children surround one of the tables, small piles of flowers in front of each of them, and the other is filled with flowers. The second table also has a couple of pairs of kid-friendly scissors, and stacks of different coloured tissue paper and rolls of ribbons at one end.

It’s seems to be a very crafty set-up and Sportacus looks forward to having fun – he’ll also be doing a bit of learning: he’s never made a bouquet before.

The children all look up upon his arrival and immediately shout their greetings. He smiles and quickly joins them properly, sliding into the empty space between Stephanie and Trixie.

“Hey guys!”

All the children grin and start greeting him again, Ziggy bouncing in his spot between Stingy and Pixel.

“Sportacus!” he shouts, “we’re making bouquets!”

The hero laughs, happy to see Ziggy so excited. He’s having fun. “I know, Ziggy; Stephanie invited me to make one as well!”

Ziggy gasps. “You’re gonna make a bouquet with us?”

“Yup!” Sportacus nods, amused and warmed by Ziggy’s excitement.

Ziggy starts bouncing again and Sportacus sees Stephanie smile fondly at the boy for a moment, before she turns to him, clearly in Stephanie Explanation Mode.

She gestures to the table full of flowers, multiple bunches of all sorts tucked into glasses and party cups.

“We have marigolds, daisies, goldfields and roses,” Stephanie tells him, “those are alliums and those are crocuses, and those ones are called dahlias.”

She points out each bunch carefully, which Sportacus is grateful for. He’s seen some of them blooming in the garden before but he hadn’t known what they were called.

“And then we have tulips, snowdrops, bluebells, forget-me-nots, and finally, daffodils,” she finishes. “They’re all spring flowers, we won’t see any of the other stuff for another couple of months.”

“Well these are very nice, guys,” Sportacus tells them sincerely. He’s very impressed – the kids have grown a big range of flowers in a variety of colours, and they all look bright and healthy. They’ve clearly been working very hard and putting a lot of effort into caring for them, and he tells the kids so.

They all light up under the praise and look very proud of their efforts, which they should.

“Thanks, Sportacus!” Stephanie beams, “we have lots of tissue paper to wrap the bunches up in, and some ribbons to tie them together too.”

“Presentation is important,” Stingy says. “You have to arrange the flowers nicely _and_ wrap then nicely too.”

Sportacus nods.

“Some of the flowers mean stuff,” Stephanie informs him, “like a flower alphabet. Red roses mean you love someone – but that’s about as much as we know so we’re mostly going with what looks prettiest.” She admits, shrugging

Sportacus chuckles. “Fair enough.”

“You can use a lot of types, or only a couple if you want, and there's enough that everybody gets to make one each.”

Sportacus steps around Stephanie, closer to the flowers. He has no idea what to put in his bouquet, though he does like the look of the daffodils.

“I get to make two though,” Stephanie continues, “one for my uncle – which is my bouquet – but then I get to make one for Bessie on my uncle’s behalf because he's working so he can't make one for her.”

“We said that was fair.” Trixie says.

“Yeah!” Pixel and Ziggy agree. Stingy just hums, busy arranging his sizable pile of yellow flowers.

“You’re making them as gifts?” Sportacus asks.

“If we want,” says Pixel, “we don’t have to, but it’s a nice idea.” The kids all nod in agreement.

Sportacus lights up, grinning warmly at the children. “That’s so lovely, guys! Flowers are a very nice thing to give someone, and choosing and arranging them yourself is a very thoughtful gift indeed.” It really is – he’s so proud of these kids. “Who are yours all for?” the hero asks, hoping to get some ideas.

“Mines for my sister,” Trixie says. She seems to have picked out the darkest of the red roses and the darkest of the purple tulips and dahlias, which look almost black. “She’s super tough so she’s gonna like these, they’re _cool!_ ” she exclaims gleefully. Sportacus has met Trixie’s sister, and from the look of the ‘punk-rock’ bouquet Trixie’s putting together, he has a feeling she’s going to be very happy with it.

“I'm making mine for my mum.” Pixel seems to be going with an orange and blue theme, with several large orange dahlias, orange marigolds, blue alliums and a bunch of bluebells spread out in front of him.

“Me too!” Ziggy chirrups, waving around some daisies. Aside from those, he’s also collected a few bright red roses, some snowdrops and some bluebells. “She likes blue and red, and I know she likes snowdrops, so I'm making her one with all those things in.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Sportacus agrees.

“Mine is for _me_.” Stingy declares. Sportacus isn’t surprised in the least.

“I like flowers, much more than my parents do.”

Indeed, Stingy in particular was often seen around the garden looking at the flowers. He’s told everybody multiple times that all the flowers are his, but he’s always looking at them with a fond look a little softer than usual. He currently has at least four of every yellow flower in front of him, which he’s arranging very carefully and with great precision.

“Who are you gonna make yours for, Sportacus?” Ziggy asks.

"I don't know, guys," Sportacus shrugs. “What do you think?”

"You can make one for yourself if you want," Stephanie said, arranging a little spectrum of roses. "Like Stingy."

Stingy rolls his eyes. “Whilst my bouquet idea is _clearly_ the best, he's _obviously_ going to make one for Robbie."

Sportacus feels the tip of his ears start to warm under his hat.

Stephanie gasps. “That's a great idea Stingy!”

All the kids enthusiastically agree whilst Stingy just shakes his head and mutters that _of course it is_ , and that _it’s the most obvious thing_.

Sportacus feels the heat start to trickle into his cheeks and hopes that the kids don’t notice. It doesn’t seem like they do, but Trixie’s excited grin seems to have a particularly wicked edge to it.

“Does, um. Does Robbie even like flowers?” Sportacus asks a little weakly. He’s never seen Robbie near the flower garden, aside from to set up a scheme or machine nearby. Even then, he never gets too close. Actually, that’s a thought; he’s never seen Robbie looking at the flowers but he’s never touched the gardens during his schemes – aside from that initial one against the sportscandy. Maybe he simply can’t bring himself to ruin something the kids have worked hard on or maybe… maybe he likes them?

Who knows.

Trixie does, apparently, because she rolls her eyes and states that “everyone likes flowers, Sportacus,” like it’s a fact of life.

From the way the other kids all agree, maybe it is.

"Alright!” Sportacus exclaims, “I’ll make a bouquet for Robbie!” He doesn’t actually have to give it to him…

“Excellent idea, Stingy"

“Of course.” Stingy nods.

"What do you think he'd like?" he asks the kids.

“Well he really likes purple stuff,” says Trixie.

“And orange.” Pixel adds.

“And blue!” Ziggy pipes up.

“And pink.” Stingy throws in, largely concentrating on making sure his flowers are all equally spaced.

Sportacus smiles at them, “that’s very helpful, thank you!”

The very first flower he picks out is a huge orange dahlia, because it reminds him of the ridiculous fluffy chair Robbie has in his bunker. He’s only seen it once or twice during his time in LazyTown but Sportacus knows he loves it so he is going to take this flower and put it smack bang in the middle of Robbie’s bouquet in the hopes that the similarity will amuse Robbie as much as it amuses himself.

A decent amount of the other dahlias have come up an interesting shade of purple; somewhere between a dark aubergine and cerise. They remind him so much of Robbie that Sportacus actually stares at them in shock a moment before he manages to snap himself out of it, gathering up five of them.

He also takes some of the purple tulips.

He wants something else, something smaller to tie the whole thing together but he can’t think what. He frowns at the flowers, thinking hard. The roses are really beautiful, but he doesn’t want to risk it… even if Robbie happens to know flower language and assumes – correctly – that Sportacus doesn’t, putting roses of any colour might seem a bit… well.

He errs on the side of caution and picks out some of the darker coloured forget-me-nots instead.

He doesn’t add anything pink purely because he thinks it clashes a bit. If it was paired with the purple and pink, or the orange on its own it’d be fine, but all together it’s a bit much so he leaves it, gathering all his flowers and setting them on the table between Trixie and Stephanie.

Stephanie’s paired her yellow, pink and white roses with some goldfields and yellow tulips which look lovely, and is now wrapping the stems up in some yellow tissue paper. Looking on his other side, Trixie has found some spiky leaves to add to her bouquet. The hero isn’t sure what or where they’re from, but they go well with the overall theme of the bouquet and Trixie certainly seems very pleased.

Sportacus doesn’t take long to arrange his flowers, having known exactly how he wants them since he picked them. The orange dahlia goes in the middle, surrounded by the other dahlias and the tulips, which are all mixed together. He then encircles the bouquet with the forget-me-nots, creating a nice border.

Overall, he’s very pleased with the results. He finishes arranging his bouquet as Stephanie ties a length of pink ribbon around her own, and she turns to him, pleased. She’s finished a lot quicker than the other kids; they both have, but that’s probably due to the fact that Sportacus is just generally quicker in most things due to being an adult and Stephanie having to get through two bouquets. She asks him what colour tissue paper and ribbon he’d like, and Sportacus immediately picks the purple paper and a length of orange ribbon. It’s a much easier choice than picking the flowers had been.

He wraps the stems of his bunch of flowers carefully in the paper and winds the ribbon around the centre of the tissue before tying the ends into a pretty bow, just like Stephanie had done with hers. He’s never done that before, and she has to help him a little to get it right but they’re both proud of the outcome.

Sportacus is trimming the ends of some of the stems on his bouquet to make them a bit more even when his crystal goes off, making him and the others jump.

"Someone's in trouble!" The hero immediately starts looking around the area in case it’s someone nearby. It isn’t though, so he quickly (but carefully!) puts down his scissors and hands his bouquet to Stephanie. "I have to go, kids,” he tells them, and they all nod understandingly.

“I'll be back though!" He shouts, already flipping over the wall and running to the cause of the crystals beeping.

 

* * *

 

 

The kids watch Sportacus disappear over the wall and watch him run off for as far as they’re able. When he gets far enough that they can’t see him any more they all turn back to their flowers.

Stephanie sets Sportacus’s bouquet gently beside her space on the table. She’s finished her own – the one for her uncle – so she gently sets it on the ground beside the table leg out of harm’s way before moving to pick the flowers for Bessie’s bouquet.

"Who do you think’s in trouble?" Pixel asks the group, slotting bluebells in amongst his other flowers.

Stephanie winces. “I _hope_ it’s not my uncle,” she says, plucking the last few red roses out of their glass, “but…”

“It probably is.” Trixie finishes for her.

“Yeah.” Stephanie loves her uncle with her entire heart there’s no doubt about that, he’s just very, very clumsy. Whilst it could very well be someone else… uncle Milford being the one in trouble isn’t unlikely.

“It could be that kitten again.” Ziggy offers.

“Mm,” Stingy agrees, “I see it sat outside my house all the time. It’s _constantly_ getting stuck in one of the trees.”

Ziggy nods, carefully adding snowdrops to his bouquet. “Mum says it’s a little rascal.”

“Well _I_ think–” Stingy cuts off suddenly, eyes narrowing. He elbows Stephanie gently, then points to the wall. "Is that Robbie?"

Stephanie follows the point of his finger until she spies a familiar black coif peeking over the wall. The other children notice too and Stephanie has just enough time to grab Sportacus’s flowers and put them on the floor next to her uncle’s bouquet before Trixie shouts _“Hey Robbie!”_ and the villain jumps, screaming in fright. When he lands he immediately stands and leans over the wall, clutching his chest.

“Don’t _do_ that,” he hisses at them, and Trixie shrugs and goes back to her flowers instead of apologising. Robbie’s gaze lands on them and he narrows his eyes.

"What on _earth_ are you all doing," he asks, eyeing the flowers like they might poison him.

None of them are poisonous, and Stephanie is _sure_ that Robbie knows this since most of them are pretty common flowers, but even if they _were_ they’re at least _three_ feet away from Robbie so she rolls her eyes at him. He’s such a _drama king_ sometimes. (All the time.)

"We're making bouquets!” Ziggy chirrups “We've been growing flowers in the garden and the Spring ones just grew up!"

Robbie makes a face like he doesn’t know what to do with this information, even though he _asked_ for it. His face scrunches up in an interesting mix confusion or displeasure, his nose wrinkling.

The word cute flitters through Stephanie’s mind. It’s like the aftermath of a kitten sneeze.

Robbie’s gaze sweeps over the flowers each of them has in their hands, frowning.

"Do _you_ want to make one, Robbie?" Stingy asks.

Stephanie can’t tell whether Stingy’s inviting Robbie to make one or is trying to guess if that’s why Robbie’s so interested in what they’re doing. Either way it makes Robbie flinch, and Stephanie feels a bit sorry for him.

She’s about to invite him properly but Ziggy beats her to it, calling out to Robbie excitedly.

"Yeah! Robbie, you should make one too!"

“We’ve still got loads of flowers,” Trixie shrugs.

"Why would _I_ make one," Robbie scoffs, crossing his arms and straightening up, sticking his nose in the air.

"For a gift?” Stephanie suggests, trying not to roll her eyes again. “Pixel and Ziggy are giving them to their mums, Trixie’s giving hers to her sister, and -"

"Mine’s for _me_ ," Stingy interrupts, shoving his nose in the air too. (Not too far though, he still has to be able to see what he’s doing with his flowers.)

 _‘What a pair,’_ Stephanie thinks.

"You could give one to Sportacus," Trixie suggests slyly.

 _‘Speaking of pairs…’_ Stephanie watches as Robbie start to turn red. "Yeah!" She agrees, taking pity on him and keeping her tone happy and devoid of any mischief. If they tease him too much he’ll bolt, and she wants him to have fun here if he does decide to make a bouquet.

"I'm a _villain_ , Pinkie.” Robbie argues, “I can't give the town hero flowers."

"Of course you can!" Stephanie exclaims.

“Yeah!” Trixie agrees, “just because you're enemies doesn't mean you can't do nice stuff for each other every now and then.”

Robbie pales a bit at the word ‘nice’ but doesn’t outright argue, watching as the other kids nod at what Trixie’s saying seriously.

“And Sportacus _really_ likes flowers,” Pixel adds.

“He does?” Robbie blurts, whirling to face the boy.

Pixel nods. “Especially daffodils. He was always looking at them in the garden, he thinks they smell nice. I think they’re his favourite.”

“That’s right!” Ziggy interjects, “and he said that flowers are nice and that they’re pretty–”

“Well- well of course he did!” Robbie blusters, “he likes all of that nature-y dumb stuff.”

“–and that they’re _thoughtful_.”

Robbie clams up immediately, mouth closing with a speed that makes his teeth click together. There’s silence around the table for a moment as he seems to process what Ziggy just said.

“…thoughtful.” He repeats eventually.

Ziggy nods.

Robbie stays quiet for a moment, clearly thinking hard. Stephanie and the others give him time and after a few seconds the villain looks up and back over the flowers again, though his eyes seem a little out of focus.

“I would like to make a bouquet,” Robbie says softly. He’s hunched up again and looks like even a quiet noise would spook him, so Stephanie just nods and gestures towards the flowers, gently going over what they have.

She watches Robbie gather up several forget-me-nots, the rest of the bluebells and snowdrops, and a large amount of the remaining daffodils, which makes her smile so wide her face hurts. Luckily, Robbie doesn’t’ seem to notice it. After an extra couple of seconds of careful thinking – complete with the classic _‘I’m thinking’_ gesture of stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger – he takes a decent chunk of daisies too.

The other kids are back to working on their own bouquets, chatting happily amongst themselves. Stephanie’s grateful for this since it takes a little bit of the focus of Robbie. She knows that if they all watched Robbie get his flowers and join the group – which they could’ve done; Robbie rarely does stuff like this with them voluntarily, not without some mischievous reason behind it – he would’ve felt uncomfortable and awkward. This way it seems more natural, and she thinks this might help put him a bit more at ease.

Robbie works in silence for a while, happy to let the others talk around him as he puts together his flowers.

Stephanie catches him sneaking a glance at her bouquet every now and then and starts to panic a little. Oh no, what if Robbie wanted some red roses? She took the last of them for Bessie’s bouquet – she thought she was taking from the last remains of the flowers, having no idea Robbie would be making a bouquet too. She’s wondering how to broach the subject when Robbie clears his throat a little and jerks his head towards her flowers, keeping his eyes on the bluebells he’s fiddling with.

“Who's yours for then.”

“Oh!” She says, surprised. That hadn’t been what she’d been expecting. “This is for Miss Busybody, from my uncle – he's working so I said I'd make one for him. But mine is for uncle Milford.”

"Stephanie gets to make two because one of them is on the half of another person." Ziggy says.

Stingy leans towards him and corrects him with a whispered “ _be_ -half.”

“Oh, right!” Ziggy mutters and nods furiously, like he’s trying to shake the word into his brain. “ _Be_ -half. Behalf,” he repeats, and Stingy nods at him, pleased.

Most people are on the wrapping and ribbon stage by now, only Ziggy, Robbie and Stephanie left. Stephanie is finishing hers off, almost ready to wrap, and Robbie seems to be nearly finishing too. Ziggy asks Stephanie to pass him some of the red paper and the white ribbon. She does so, and also passes the scissors over to Stingy, who’s finished wrapping his bouquet in green paper and is concentrating on making a complicated bow out of his ribbon, which is yellow. He takes them and helps Ziggy cut the amount of ribbon he needs whilst Stephanie takes the roll of blue ribbon and a couple of pieces of red paper from the table.

“Hey Pinkie, whilst you’re over there can you grab me some of that red ribbon?” Trixie asks her, having finished wrapping the bouquet for her sister in black paper.

“Sure.” She grabs the ribbon and an extra pair of scissors, both of which she hands to Trixie. Stingy passes over the other pair of scissors and Stephanie starts cutting her ribbon. When she starts to wrap her paper around the stems of her flowers Robbie moves away from his spot to the other table and starts looking over the wrapping options carefully. Stephanie watches him inspect each colour of paper and each roll of ribbon carefully before selecting what he wants and the sight makes Stephanie smile. He’s really putting thought into this.

He eventually comes away with two sheets of medium blue paper and the roll of white ribbon, setting them on the table with care. He’s gone for a very mixed kind of bouquet, one that doesn’t look like much planning has gone into it at all. Stephanie knows otherwise though, having seen Robbie spend ages making sure that each flower is perfectly placed. Every kind of flower is equally spaced, so that they’re all spread evenly throughout the bunch and there isn’t a big clump of one type of flower in one place or too few a type in another. He’s arranged them all so that they form some kind of dome-ish shape; the bunch is higher in the centre and lower at the sides. She’s not quite sure how he’s done that but she’s very impressed. Robbie wraps the paper around the bunch’s stems carefully so as not to disrupt this, tying the bouquet off with a very fancy looking bow. What really gets her attention though, is when Robbie takes the scissors and opens them, laying one of the loose ends of the ribbon – near the base of the actual bow – over the sharp edge. He then presses the pad of his thumb over the ribbon on the blade and drags it and the scissors down the length of the ribbon. When he lets go the ribbon springs back, now curled. It’s all done in a single second, and by the time Stephanie lets out an awed gasp, he’s done the other end of the ribbon too.

Robbie looks up at the sound and notices that all the kids are staring at him. He looks suspiciously around the table, curling in on himself.

“What?”

“Can _we_ do that?” Trixie asks, a little breathily.

Robbie looks confused for a minuet then looks down at his bow. Understanding dawns on his face but – to the surprise of everyone – he shakes his head. “No. That is something you are not allowed to do.”

The kids all look distraught, Stephanie along with them. Why can he do it and they can’t? That’s mean and unfair, and she’s about to say so when Robbie realises he’s upset them and starts panicking.

“No! No! It’s _dangerous_ , is what I meant!” he shouts, waving his hands, “You can’t use sharp scissors like that until you’re older.”

”C- can you do it for us then?” Ziggy sniffs, and Robbie looks horrified at the sight of tears in his eyes.

“I- do you want me to?”

“Yes!” all the kids shout together.

Robbie jumps, but quickly straightens up again and picks up the scissors. His hand’s shaking a little. “Okay,” he says, “Ziggy, pass me your bouquet.”

He curls the ends of Ziggy’s ribbon with care, and when he hands it back to him Stephanie sees him smile softly at the delighted look on Ziggy’s face as he inspects the curls. He goes through their bouquets one by one, curling the ribbon ends. Pixel’s gone with the same bright orange ribbon that Sportacus had put on Robbie’s bouquet, and Stephanie allows herself a private little smile as Robbie nods approvingly at Pixel’s ribbon choice. It goes really well with the dark blue paper he’s wrapped his bouquet in.

Stephanie goes last, handing Robbie her uncle’s bouquet first as she quickly finishes tying the ribbon around Bessie’s.

Sportacus returns just as Robbie drags the scissors down the second ribbon end on Bessie’s bouquet, flipping over the wall to land back between Stephanie and Trixie. Robbie drops the scissors, eyes wide, and immediately grabs his bouquet and hides it behind his back, spluttering.

“Sp- Sportaflop! What are _you_ doing here?” Robbie demands, trying desperately to keep the bouquet out of the hero’s view.

“I was here before!” Sportacus laughs. “I was making a bouquet too, but my crystal went off.” he explains. “Sorry I took so long everyone, after I rescued the kitten the Mayor needed help too!”

Stephanie sighs whilst Trixie and Ziggy share a _look_.

“Are you making one too?” Sportacus asks Robbie innocently, tilting his head a little.

Robbie jerks back like someone hit him and turns red. “ ** _No_**.” He spits. “Don’t be silly Sportaspring.” He spins around and stalks out of the court, cheeks red and head held high, the bouquet clutched carefully to his chest so Sportacus can’t see it. Perhaps 'stalk' isn’t quite the right word, Stephanie thinks, considering how _quickly_ Robbie is moving. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen him move that fast before.

Sportacus looks shocked by Robbie’s sudden exit and quite upset and Stephanie stomps her foot underneath the table in frustration. She knows Robbie is easily worked up about doing nice things but _come on_! There was no need for that.

The sound of the stomp turns Sportacus’s attention to her and she freezes, caught. He looks so confused. Thinking fast, she grabs Sportacus’s bouquet from under the table and pushes it into his hands.

“Go! Go give it to him!”

Sportacus looks at the bouquet in confusion. “Wait, now?”

“Yes, _now!_ ” Stephanie shouts, throwing her hands in the air. “Go, go!”

Sportacus scrambles to move, doing as he’s told and sprinting off after Robbie, still looking slightly confused but going anyway.

Everyone else looks just as confused, and the moment Sportacus leaps over the wall they all turn to her and start asking what’s going on.

 

* * *

 

Robbie heads in the direction of the bunker, face burning.

What was he _thinking_? Villains don’t play around with flowers!

He can feel the bouquet against his chest. He can’t look at it, but he can’t bring himself to get rid of it either. He put so much effort into it.

He shouldn’t have.

“Robbie! Robbie wait!”

Robbie does the exact opposite; walking even quicker at the sound of the elf’s voice, long legs allowing him to cover ground at an impressive speed. It won’t be enough though – Sportacus will catch up to him. Robbie knows he will. He can’t outrun Sportacus, even with legs like his.

Why couldn’t the stupid man just leave him be? Let him wallow in his embarrassment and stupidity alone until he was ready to play their stupid game again. He was the _villain_. He schemed, he plotted and he drove people away. He did not play with the very children he conspired against, did not help them and entertain them with ribbon curling, and he did _not_ make thoughtful, lovely bouquets for his enemy!

His hand clenched around the bouquet in anger, but he forced himself to relax it. It could’ve been worse. At least he hadn’t put any roses in there.

_All the red ones were already gone._

“Robbie, please!” the elf shouts from behind him.

Robbie ignores him. Eventually though, Sportacus appears at his side, reaching out to put a gentle hand on his arm. Robbie stops suddenly, shoving the flowers behind his back again as he whirls on the elf, mouth open so he can tell him to _get lost_. Instead of doing that, however, Robbie freezes.

Sportacus is stood next to him, smiling sheepishly and holding a bouquet of flowers out.

To him; to Robbie.

Robbie takes the bouquet from him, studying it. It’s beautiful, and it’s impossible to miss the fact that the flowers are his colours, as is the paper and ribbon.

This isn’t just being given to him, it was _made_ for him.

His immediate reaction is to shout, to throw the flowers to the ground and sneer in order to cover up his embarrassment and gratitude.

“You put a lot of thought into this.” He says instead, which turns out to be the best reaction he could’ve had, as hearing it makes Sportacus go bright red. The sight makes Robbie grin, and gives him the courage to bring the bouquet _he_ made out from behind his back and slowly, hesitantly offer it to the hero.

Sportacus takes it like it’s made of glass, cradling it with a reverence that makes Robbie’s heart hurt. He guesses that it’s obvious this one was made for _him,_ what with the colours and everything. Sportacus looks at the bouquet intently, turning it gently every now and then so he can see every aspect of it. He looks at it for so long, not saying anything, that Robbie starts to get a bit uneasy. Is there something wrong with it? Robbie shuffles his feet slightly and shifts his weight to his hip, holding onto his bouquet – _his_ bouquet – like a lifeline whilst he waits for Sportacus to say something, do something, _anything_.

Sportacus gently strokes a thumb along the petal of a daffodil and looks up at him and– are those _tears_ in his eyes? Robbie inhales sharply, he can’t do tears, what’s he supposed to do if Sportacus actually cries? He can’t do this, he _can’t_ –

Turns out, he doesn’t have to do anything at all because it’s _Sportacus_ that does, stepping closer to take Robbie’s hand and kiss him.

Robbie’s stomach does a flip – funny, considering who’s kissing him. Sportacus, _Sportacus_ is kissing him. And Robbie’s kissing _back_.

As far as kisses go it’s pretty chaste, nothing more than a meeting of lips with gentle pressure, but to Robbie it’s perfect and he leans into it eagerly.

After a few moments Sportacus pulls back and Robbie automatically follows him, chasing after his lips. He snaps himself out of it pretty quickly, blinking eyes open eyes he didn’t realise he were almost closed to see the dreamy look in Sportacus’s own.

“Oh,” Robbie says quietly, dazed.

“I’m sorry,” Sportacus says, pulling away, “was that not-?”

Robbie uses their joined hands to pull him back. “No, no, it was fine.” He assures the elf. “You can do it again though if you want, just to be sure.”

Sportacus laughs and leans in again, kissing him sweetly on the lips. Robbie smiles into it, feeling his face start heating up again. Sportacus pulls back grinning and kisses Robbie’s reddening cheeks again and again, peppering his face with tiny little kisses.

Robbie snorts and Sportacus has to stop kissing him because he’s giggling, but Robbie doesn’t mind. He’s cute when he giggles. Awfully cute. It’s stupid. He’s stupid.

The hero smiles up at Robbie dopily and gently tugs on his hand, back in the direction of the court.

“C’mon,” he says, “I want to see how the kids got on whilst I wasn’t there.”

Robbie doesn’t protest, and lets himself be led back the way he came. “Quite well, I think. They’ve all got the hang of colour-schemes.”

Sportacus hums thoughtfully, swinging their joined hands back and forth. It makes Robbie roll his eyes.

“I showed them how to curl ribbons,” he tells the elf. “I’m pretty sure they now think I’m some sort of god.”

Sportacus laughs. It’s beautiful, and it lights up his face, making him look even more lovely and– _wow,_ Robbie is so far gone.

“Did you teach them to do it themselves?”

Robbie scoffs. “I’m a villain, not an idiot – scissors and young children do not a tear-free ending make.” His brain catches up with what he says after a moment and his stomach grows cold because he’s a _villain_ , and he just kissed the _hero_.

Said hero simply smiles at him and says, “I know,” though, so Robbie lets the thought sit quietly in the back of his mind where it won’t do any harm and walks with Sportacus back to the court, the two of them swinging their held hands back and forth and holding their bouquets close.

**Author's Note:**

> i'll be honest i wasn't gonna make em kiss, just hold hands.
> 
> but i am a weak, weak little lady.


End file.
